Esurance Review

Esurance Review Summary

Esurance is a pretty good insurance company, earning a rating of 3.3/5 from WalletHub, positive customer reviews, and solid ratings from organizations such as J.D. Power and the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Esurance, which is a subsidiary of Allstate, is best known for being online-based and specializing in cheap, basic insurance policies. Just keep in mind that Esurance only offers auto and home insurance, so it doesn't provide as many other types of coverage as some of its competitors.

In the sections below, you can learn more about Esurance’s coverage options, how they compare to those of its competitors, and where Esurance could improve. For instance, Esurance isn’t available to everyone, as it only offers insurance policies in 43 states – not including Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, or Wyoming.

Esurance Reviews and Ratings

• Reviews on WalletHub: 3.8/5
• J.D. Power: 4.1/5
• NAIC: 2.92
• BBB: A-

Esurance has earned praise for its friendly customer service, but the company’s NAIC score is 2.92, which means it has received a lot more customer complaints than its industry peers. Consumer complaints online focus largely on problems with the Esurance claims handling process. The high number of complaints caused the company to lose a few points in this category.

Category Rating: 25/30

Esurance Car Insurance Quotes

Esurance is among the more affordable auto insurance providers out there, though its rates aren’t the absolute cheapest you can find. Esurance received a score of 20/30 in the cost portion of this review, as its premiums rank in the second quartile among the cheapest major car insurance providers that WalletHub evaluated. Learn more about WalletHub’s Methodology.

Category Rating: 20/30

Types of Insurance Offered by Esurance

• Auto insurance
• Homeowners insurance
• Renters insurance
• Motorcycle insurance

Esurance received low marks in this category because it offers only a few types of insurance policies for homeowners and drivers. With that in mind, we’ll talk more about what Esurance offers in terms of auto insurance.

Esurance offers all the major auto insurance coverage options you’d expect: bodily injury liability, property damage liability, uninsured/underinsured motorist, collision, and comprehensive. It also offers many extra coverage options for extra protection.

Supplemental Esurance Car Insurance Coverage Options:

• Emergency Roadside Service: Covers the cost of towing, tire repairs, fuel delivery, jump-starts, and lockout services if your car breaks down on the road.
• Rental Car Reimbursement: Covers the cost of a rental car when your vehicle is in the repair shop due to an accident.
• CarMatch Rental Coverage®: Provides a higher coverage limit for car rentals: up to 45 days or $3,000, whichever comes first. Only available in 35 states.
• Loan-Lease Coverage: Covers the difference between what your vehicle is worth and what is still owed on the car loan/lease. It pays up to 25% of your car’s actual cash value at the time of the accident.

While loading up on coverage may seem appealing, it’s important to make sure that you’re only paying for enhanced protection that makes sense for your personal situation and your wallet. You don’t want to pay for coverage you don’t really need.

Nevertheless, if your personal circumstances require unique protections while you’re on the road, Esurance offers specialty car insurance policies to suit a wide range of coverage needs.

Specialty Types of Esurance Car Insurance Policies:

• Esurance Pay-Per-Mile Insurance for individuals who drive less than 10,000 miles per year and are looking for more affordable coverage. Monthly premiums are based on how far you drive.
• Esurance ShareSmart® Insurance for individuals who drive for a ridesharing company and need to extend their personal auto insurance policies to cover them while on the job. Only available in California, Illinois, and New Jersey.
• Mexican Car Insurance provides coverage for liability, medical payments, collision and more when you’re driving in Mexico. Esurance provides this coverage through a third-party provider, International Insurance Group.
• Collector or Classic Car Insurance for owners of antique vehicles. Esurance has partnered with a third-party provider, Hagerty, to provide this type of specialty insurance.
• Commercial Auto Insurance for individuals who want to keep their work equipment and employees protected on the road. Esurance has partnered with Commercial Insurance.NET to provide this type of specialty insurance.

Esurance also insures motorcycles, though the details vary by state.

Category Rating: 0/5

Esurance Discounts

• Multi-policy discount
• Multi-vehicle discount
• Safety features discounts
• Affiliations discounts
• Roadside assistance discount
• Education level discount
• Mature driver discount
• Good student discount
• Homeowner discount
• On-time payment discount
• Payment frequency discount
• Pac-12 discount
• DriveSense discount

While Esurance has a solid list of discounts, it’s not as long and varied as what some of its industry peers offer, so Esurance didn’t get all the points it could have in this category. Keep in mind that eligibility criteria for auto insurance discounts vary by state.

Category Rating: 3/5

Esurance Claims

With Esurance, you can file a claim anytime online using the company’s straightforward, easy-to-use website. Esurance also offers 24/7 claims support by phone, at 800-ESURANCE (800-378-7262). The company’s accessibility earned it full marks in this category, per WalletHub’s grading criteria.

 With that being said, there have been complaints about the claims handling process, particularly regarding unsatisfactory payments and delayed payments, so there’s still room for improvement.

Category Rating: 15/15

Esurance Transparency

It is difficult to find key information on the Esurance website, so the company scored poorly in the transparency department. You can, however, call the customer service line at 800-ESURANCE (800-378-7262) every day from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. CST.

Category Rating: 0/5

Bottom Line

Esurance is a pretty good insurance company, scoring well in terms of customer service, premiums, and ease of filing claims. But the company could offer more types of insurance and discount options, and it could make it easier to find important information on its website. Esurance only offers coverage for cars, motorcycles, homeowners and renters – a limited selection compared to some of its top competitors.

Summary: Esurance Scores by Review Category

Now that you’re familiar with Esurance’s scores in each of our review categories, let’s see how the company compares to top competitors in a handful of key areas. Hopefully, this will help you find the best insurance company for your needs.

Esurance Car Insurance vs. Competitors

*Average annual premiums are based on a variety of driver profiles. Individuals premiums may differ, but these rates illustrate how costs from these insurers typically compare. Learn more about how these rates were calculated in the methodology section below.

For more car insurance research, check out WalletHub’s Cheap Car Insurance Study. And if you have experience with Esurance that you think might help other consumers, you can also write an Esurance review.

Methodology

In order to provide fair, helpful reviews of insurance companies such as Esurance that can lead consumers to the best insurance coverage for their needs, WalletHub rates each insurance company in seven major categories: Cost, Insurance Types, Customer Service & Reviews, Discounts, Claims, Financial Stability and Transparency. Below, you can find an overview of what each section in our scoring rubric entails.

1. The “Cost” section includes information about how expensive the insurance policies are. Esurance’s average premiums and quartile rankings are based on data from California, the largest state Esurance operates in. Rate information is provided by Quadrant Information Services. Individual rates will be different.
2. The “Insurance Types” section examines what types of insurance policies the company offers.
3. The “Customer Service & Reviews” section measures the insurance company’s reputation as well user reviews and information from watchdog organizations.
4. The “Discounts” section examines how many and what types of discounts the company offers. It also takes into consideration whether or not there are discounts for bundling policies.
5. The “Claims” section examines the ways in which customers can make claims with the policy. It considers whether or not customers can make claims by phone or online, as well as whether or not the company has a 24/7 support line.
6. The “Financial Stability” section considers the company’s status with credit rating agencies A.M. Best, S&P and Moody’s.
7. The “Transparency” section measures how clearly the insurer discloses key information on its website.

The final score takes these seven categories into account and reflects how close an insurance company is to WalletHub’s definition of a 5-star insurer. For more information, please read WalletHub’s full insurance company methodology.

Ask the Experts

To gain more insight about Esurance Insurance review, WalletHub posed the following questions to a panel of experts. Click on the experts below to view their bios and answers.

1. How important should Esurance Insurance reviews be to potential customers?
2. Why do insurance companies like Esurance spend so much money on commercials?
3. Do national companies like Esurance tend to be a better deal for consumers vs a local insurance company?